Our Government and the Forests 133 



It may be that you live in a brick or stone house and burn 

 coal in your stoves. You think that it makes no difference 

 to you whether or not there are any forests. But stop and 

 thirik a moment. Are you sure that you are really inde- 

 pendent of them ? How many things do you use every day 

 that are made of wood ? The list is surely a long one. If 

 wood is rare and expensive, the articles which are made of 

 it add to your cost of living and allow you less money for 

 other things. 



Let us suppose for a moment that you have no use for 

 wood in any form. Will this take away all interest that 

 you may have in the forests? In any event you are de- 

 pendent upon the fertility of your fields for the food that 

 you require. Now, if there is a lumber company stripping 

 the mountains at the head of the river upon which your 

 home is situated, and as a result of clearing the timber from 

 the slopes the floods become worse, your garden is buried 

 beneath gravel and sand, and your orchard washed away, 

 will you not think it does make a difference to you in what 

 way the forests are treated ? 



The timbered lands which the government is holding and 

 caring for are known as National Forests. About two 

 thirds of the forests yet remaining in the West are included 

 in them. These lands are mostly mountainous and not 

 suited to agriculture. 



In the East the government has no lands except those 

 which it buys. Because of the great damage which is being 

 done to the streams and valleys of the Appalachian Moun- 

 tains by careless lumbering, a great tract of land is being 

 acquired by purchase. This is called the Appalachian 

 Forest. The timber in this region will be carefully cut 



